African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 2 (4), pp. 86-87, April 2003

Genetic comparisons of Egyptian date palm cultivars (Phoenix dactylifera L.) by RAPD-PCR

Said Saad Soliman¹, Bahy Ahmed  Ali^2*, Mohamed Morsy Mohamed Ahmed²

¹National Research Center (NRC) Dokki, Cairo, Egypt.

²Nucleic Acid Research Dept., Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology Research Institute (GEBRI), Mubarak City For Scientific Research & technology Applications, Alexandria, Egypt.

*Corresponding author; E-mail: bahyali@hotmail.com

Random amplified polymorphic DNA technique was used to compare genetic material from four females date palm and four unknown male trees of Egyptian date palm. The genetic similarity between the four females date palm (Zaghloul, Amhat, Samany and Siwi) ranged from 87.5 to 98.9%. The banding profiles obtained suggested that both males 3 and 4 are genetically related to the four female cultivars.

Key words: Date palm, cultivars, RAPD-PCR, genetic similarity.